Return to Italy

The End of the War and a Continuing Legacy
(North Apennines Campaign / Po Valley Campaign)

 

Peace at Last

On May 8, 1945, Germany’s unconditional surrender took effect, officially ending the war in Europe. The 100th Battalion was in bivouac at Novi Ligure at the time. On May 15, the battalion left for Busto Arsizio and arrived at Ghedi Airport on May 17 to rejoin the regiment.

The 100th/442nd remained in Italy through May, carrying out assignments to process and guard German prisoners and guarding supplies, ammunition dumps, and prisoner camps while awaiting orders to ship out. Their wounded comrades were being treated in medical facilities in France, Italy, England, and the United States. Soldiers who had accumulated enough points based on their length of service began making their way home.

In May 1945, commander of the 100th Battalion, Major Jack Conley, was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and Captain Mitsuyoshi “Mits” Fukuda, executive officer of the 100th Battalion, was promoted to Major. With his promotion, Fukuda became the first American of Japanese ancestry to hold field rank in the U.S. Army.

On July 7, 1945, Fukuda was appointed the last commanding officer of the 100th Infantry Battalion, becoming the first American of Japanese ancestry to command a combat infantry battalion.

The original members of the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) who had made it through the war without serious injury had spent 20 months in combat. In the process, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, together with the 100th Infantry Battalion, gained recognition as one of the most decorated units of its size and for its length of service in U.S. military history. The American soldiers of Japanese ancestry had gained the respect and admiration of government and military leaders, as well as soldiers of other American and Allied units. They had proven their loyalty to their country.

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s acceptance of the Allied terms of surrender, effectively bringing an end to World War II. The formal surrender was signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

On October 5, 1945, Major Mitsuyoshi Fukuda was promoted to executive officer of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, another first in American military history. On October 29, he returned home as the last original member of the 100th Infantry Battalion to leave Europe.

Fukuda requested and was granted a meeting with John J. McCloy, the Assistant Secretary of War. During this meeting in November 1945, Fukuda asked for four things:

(1) That members of the 100th Infantry Battalion be permitted to take furloughs on the mainland before returning to Hawaiʻi, allowing them to explore educational and training opportunities;

(2) That steps be taken to perpetuate the identity of the 100th Infantry Battalion, possibly by assigning the 100th designation to a National Guard unit;

(3) That the colors of the 100th be returned to Hawaiʻi; and

(4) That the policy of segregation against Japanese Americans in the military be formally discontinued.

On July 15, 1946, in Washington, D.C., President Harry S. Truman pinned the seventh Presidential Unit Citation on the 100th/442nd’s colors and addressed the AJA troops:

“You are to be congratulated on what you have done for this great country of ours. I think it was my predecessor who said that Americanism is not a matter of race or creed, it is a matter of the heart.

You fought for the free nations of the world along with the rest of us. I congratulate you on that, and I can’t tell you how very much I appreciate the privilege of being able to show you just how much the United States of America thinks of what you have done.

You are now on your way home. You fought not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice — and you have won. Keep up that fight, and we will continue to win — to make this great Republic stand for just what the Constitution says it stands for: the welfare of all the people all the time.”

One person who listened to President Truman’s speech with a much deeper understanding of the burden the men of the 100th had borne was World War II correspondent Lyn Crost. After working as a reporter in Hawaiʻi before the war and later for the Associated Press in Washington, D.C., Crost was hired by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin in December 1944 as its European correspondent covering the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team. She followed the 100th/442nd until the end of the war. In the June 19, 1992, edition of The Hawaii Herald, Crost reflected on the legacy of the original 100th Infantry Battalion. She wrote:

“As years pass, statistics of decorations and the numbers of men killed and wounded may be forgotten. But the record of that original 100th Infantry Battalion and what it meant in the acceptance of Japanese Americans as loyal citizens of the United States must be remembered.

If it had failed in its first months of fighting in Italy, there might never have been a chance for other Americans of Japanese ancestry to show their loyalty to the United States as convincingly as the 100th did on the battlefields of Europe. The 100th had proved that loyalty to the United States is not a matter of race or ancestry. And it had set an example for people of all nations who seek sanctuary here to fight for those values and concepts of government that have made the United States a refuge from the hunger and despair that haunts so much of the world.”

On August 15, 1946, during ceremonies associated with the Veterans Day Parade in Honolulu, the colors of the 100th Infantry Battalion were officially turned over to the Territory of Hawaiʻi. The wartime battalion was subsequently deactivated.

On July 31, 1947, the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment was reactivated in the U.S. Army Reserve, carrying on the World War II unit’s lineage and honors, with Major Mitsuyoshi Fukuda as its commanding officer. It was the first organized Army Reserve unit activated in Hawaiʻi and remains the only Infantry and Combat Arms unit in the U.S. Army Reserve.

On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, ending racial segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces. The order stated that “there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin.”

After returning from the war, many 100th/442nd veterans used the G.I. Bill to attend college or receive vocational training. Some also became active in the political “revolution” of 1954, when Japanese American veterans and other reform candidates helped Democrats win control of the Hawaiʻi Territorial Legislature. Their political movement contributed to the push for statehood, which Hawaiʻi achieved in 1959, bringing full representation in the U.S. Congress.

The 100th Infantry Battalion’s journey from Hawaiʻi to the battlefields of Europe had come to an end, but its legacy continued long after the war. Through sacrifice, courage, teamwork, and perseverance, the men of the 100th had demonstrated their loyalty to the United States and helped challenge the prejudice faced by Americans of Japanese ancestry. Their service became a lasting part of the nation’s history and a legacy carried forward by the generations that followed.

• Italy (Naples-Foggia Campaign / Anzio Campaign/ Rome-Arno Campaign)
• France (Rhineland Campaign)